


Arrhythmia

by Gryffinduck



Category: Mean Girls (2004), Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-07-18 03:25:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16109792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gryffinduck/pseuds/Gryffinduck
Summary: All the proper signs of truth and its sub-sequential heartbreak.





	1. Arrhythmia

Arrhythmia (ar·rhyth·mia | \ ā-ˈrit͟h-mē-ə \\) noun 1. An alteration in rhythm of the heartbeat either in time or force

~~~~~

There's crying. Mostly sobbing. Lowered head. Lowered shoulders. All the proper signs of truth and its sub-sequential heartbreak.

He sits beside her, legs splayed, hands interlocked between his thighs. 

There's nothing to say. There never is at a time like this. He was eleven when the truth banged him on the head. But children bounce back. She's on the eve of eighteen and can't explain it away with youthful exuberance.

He sighs. This is one way to spend the day before Thanksgiving. Janis is waiting for him. He hasn't answered a text in the last two hours. 

"Oh, God." She wipes the mascara-ridden tears away. "What do I do? I mean, wh-what do I do?" 

After a beat, he realizes the question wasn't rhetorical. 

"Baby, I don't know." 

"What?" she lets out. "How do you not know? You, like, invented this shit!"

"What?" Damian responds through a laugh. "You think I invented being ga-"

"Stop!" she interrupts with a hand in his face. "Stop. I'm not- I'm not one of those."

"Oh. So this breakdown was about the group project due-"

"Shut the fuck up."

"Regina, if you're gonna be this-"

"Just-” She raises a tissue to her reddened nose. "Just don't use labels."

"Okay."

They sit for a while longer.

"Listen. I have to go. But, I'm going to leave you with this piece of advice and it's important." Regina looks him in the eye for the first time tonight. "You don't have to talk about this to anyone if you don't want to. Remember: you don't owe anyone an explanation; not even to your mom, dad, sister, vicar, or grocery clerk."

"Who in the f-?" 

Damian smiles at her.

"Just don't forget that it's your business and no one else's. Don't ever feel guilty about it either." He groans as he picks himself up. "I've got to head to my friend's house," he explains. She looks up at him with widened eyes.

"I swear to God; if you-"

"Hey," Damian begins as he bends down to look her in the face, "I may have invented this shit, but I ain't no snitch. I promise, Regina." She gives him as much of a smile as she can. He offers her his hand and she takes it. "Girl; you ain't ever gonna be prom-queen with that eyeshadow. Get yourself together." The other girl manages a laugh and pulls herself up.


	2. Claudication

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He thinks about the ways she's turned a little too course; a little too loud for her place in this world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Raises hand* Uh, Hi. Janis is Jewish. = )

Claudication   
clau·di·ca·tion | \ˌklȯ-də-ˈkā-shən \  
A. n  
1\. A tiredness or pain in the arms and legs caused by an inadequate supply of oxygen to the muscles, usually due to narrowed arteries

 

"Where the hell were you?" Janis asks the moment she swings the door open.

"Nana needed help counting her pills," Damian responds. "She's the only one in the house. Mom's out buying the meal for tomorrow."

Janis shrugs and leaves the door ajar as she heads downstairs. 

They sit together watching a movie that she chose. Damian doesn't pay too much attention. He thinks of Regina George and the five stages of grief that accosted her in a dimly-lit hallway not three hours ago. 

"This is the best line," Janis declares through a mouthful of popcorn. Some character says something and Janis barks out a laugh. "It's everybody's problem because the world is ending! I fucking love that line!" She cracks open her third soda of the movie and Damian can't help but grimace. 

"That much sugar will literally kill you."

"Then I'll die happy."

"Could you cool it with that?"

"With what?"

"The whole dying thing. C'mon. It's tacky."

Janis responds with a quirked brow as she gnaws on a kernel. Damian trains his eyes to the television and eventually, so does she.

"God. She is the hottest woman in existence," Janis says. Damian slowly nods. 

"She your type?"

"Yep. Soft. Smart. Jewish. Jewish women are the most beautiful in the world. Hey; I want fish and chips tonight. Howie's. They're open, right?" Janis grabs her phone and starts tapping the screen. "Yeah; they're open," she shares a few minutes later. "We'll get it after the movie ends."

They sit for a while and Damian tries to remember if he gave Regina his number. He takes his phone out of his pocket and scrolls through his messages. Janis' are still unread but there are no others.

"Wait. Why are you quiet?" He looks and finds inquisitive eyes on him. "What's going on, man?"

"Mom's gonna burn the turkey again," he says.

"That's fair," Janis replies. She scratches her knee and looks at the television. "If anything is up, you know you can tell me, right?"

"I know. But, it's not about me."

"It's about the turkey."

Damian smirks and puts his phone away.

Janis never pushed and he could appreciate the hell out of that. Maybe because she's afraid of her own boundaries being crossed. Damian knows more about the Book of Samuel than what goes on in her head most days. 

Regina strides into his mind again, she insists. A five-foot-five Colossus. Her footing isn't quite so steady. Her eyes are softer and her chip has cracked but that conniving smirk never falters. 

Damian wonders if Janis would understand. She wouldn't. Janis had to go it alone for three years while Regina got the speed pass to an empathetic ear. The girl even got sorry-about-the-bus flowers after she terrorized every student in the damn school. He wonders if he's playing Devil's Advocate; that he's not letting her tread water long enough. But that's not him. If he can help anyone avoid a little of the mess and confusion, he will. And God knows Regina can't handle it on her own. She's got a jaw-cracking shell but her insides are Jell-O. One poke through the shell and it'll shake her entire being as if that’s what it was meant for.

"Okay. It's time to go." Janis gets up from the couch and grabs her keys off the coffee table. "They close in an hour." 

Damian follows her up the stairs, out the door, and into the cool night air. He thinks about the ways she's turned a little too course; a little too loud for her place in this world. Janis opens the rust-laden door of her dad's truck and gets in. There's still a hint of red from the word spray-painted on it four years ago. As he walks around to the passenger side, he wonders if her permanent grin in the face of danger was ever worth the pain that bolted it on. She doesn't hide from anything anymore. Not the thorns or thistles. But the promises in life scare her more than the threats.

He opens the door and is pleasantly surprised by the silence. 

"You greased it, Janis!"

She offers back a wiggle of her eyebrows.

"Impressed?"

"Why, yes I am." He climbs onto the high seat. The old Ford roars to life. 

He's happy to be here, he realizes, as he watches Janis stick her tongue out whenever she shifts the gear lever. Thanksgiving turkey will be burned, dinner will end on a drunken lull, and Dad will yell at the T.V. But all that can wait for one night.


End file.
